Bob and Karen Voelkel met in 1957 while both were attending Parsons College in Fairfield, IA where they were studying to become teachers. They got married in 1960 and found teaching jobs in Mechanicsville, IA. Bob taught high school Math and Science, and Karen taught high school Home Economics and  junior high English. When they were expecting their first child in 1963, Karen was not allowed to continue teaching, but after Kristen was born, she taught Home Economics part-time in Lowden. In 1964 Bob decided to earn his master’s degree at Northeast Missouri State University, so they moved to Kirksville, MO.

In 1965, after earning a Masters in Math Education, Bob and Karen were visiting a college friend in Davenport. Bob had heard about an opening for a math teacher in the North Scott School District so he called and got an interview. The following Monday the school board approved his hiring. Bob and Karen moved their family in May of 1965 to a basement apartment in Donahue. While living in Donahue and teaching math in Eldridge, Bob also drove a school bus. He would pick up the students, drop them off, then go to his classroom and teach all day, and at the end of the day, drive the students back home on the bus.

In November they moved to a house they bought in Eldridge. Karen started subbing two or three days a week. She had several babysitters who would take care of their children if she got the early morning call that a sub was needed. She earned about $25.00 a day. She subbed at the junior high and high school and remembers that her days as a sub could be challenging, but the students were usually good, especially when she subbed for Bob. Karen later taught Family and Consumer Science at Rock Island High School for one year and at Dewitt Central High School for seven years.

Bob remembers how it was different teaching in a larger school like North Scott compared to the smaller Mechanicsville school where he was the only high school math teacher. He enjoyed working with other math teachers and the students who came from all the different small towns and communities. He taught math at North Scott from 1965 to 1996 and has had many former students, including Bob and Karen’s own children, thank him for being a great math teacher.

In addition to their work in education, they have been involved with their church. They were charter members of the United Methodist Church in Eldridge.